The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and should not be construed as constituting prior art.
Liquid cleaning compositions and solutions, including laundry detergents, have been known for many years. A majority of these compositions contain various blends of synthetic ingredients, such as surfactants, solvents, builders, conditioners, dispersants, soil-release polymers, detersive enzymes and bleaching agents. While laundry detergents containing such synthetic ingredients may exhibit adequate cleaning properties, many of these detergents are petroleum-based and contain a host of potentially toxic chemicals that are harsh on the environment. As a result, efforts have been made over the past few years to move towards laundry detergents that contain more natural and eco-friendly ingredients. Despite these efforts, however, many products continue to use synthetic surfactants that although biodegradable, pollute nonetheless because they are petroleum derived. In addition, many formulations only contain some natural ingredients and still utilize solvents, synthetic polymers, as well as chelants and bleaching agents that may still negatively impact the environment. Moreover, as laundry detergents contain more natural ingredients, it is increasingly difficult to achieve a formulation that exhibits acceptable consumer performance properties, particularly as adequate performance has been conventionally tied to the use of multiple surfactants, solvents, and builders.
As such, there is a need for laundry detergent compositions that contain a minimum number of natural ingredients, including ingredients derived from natural sources, such as plant and mineral based sources. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide laundry detergent compositions that overcome and address the deficiencies, disadvantages and shortcomings that are typically seen with conventional laundry detergent compositions.